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Joe Henderson - page 34

Joe Henderson has 239 articles published.

Joe Henderson has had a 45-year career in newspapers, including the last nearly 42 years at The Tampa Tribune. He covered a large variety of things, primarily in sports but also including hard news. The two intertwined in the decade-long search to bring Major League Baseball to the area. Henderson was also City Hall reporter for two years and covered all sides of the sales tax issue that ultimately led to the construction of Raymond James Stadium. He served as a full-time sports columnist for about 10 years before moving to the metro news columnist for the last 4 ½ years. Henderson has numerous local, state and national writing awards. He has been married to his wife, Elaine, for nearly 35 years and has two grown sons – Ben and Patrick.

Joe Henderson: Love is perfect message on day of horror

in Statewide by

(Editor’s note: We bring this column to highlight an important viewpoint on Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando.) The sermon Sunday morning in my house of worship was about love. In light of current events that seems odd, doesn’t it? We woke to the news that a gunman with apparent ties to radical Islam murdered at least 50 people during a shooting rampage in Orlando. Pastor Patina Ripkey acknowledged the horror 90 miles to the east. And then spent the next…

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Joe Henderson: Why not give voters say on Hillsborough County transportation tax?

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

So, the Hillsborough County Commission decided, again, to take an important decision out of the hands of those most affected. The public is once again denied the chance to decide if wants to tax itself to pay for things like roads, buses and other transportation necessities. Undeterred by traffic jams and studies showing a quarter-million more people will move to Hillsborough real soon, commissioners Thursday voted 4-3 not to proceed with a November referendum for a 20-year sales tax hike…

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Joe Henderson: Rick Scott may have been right rejecting high-speed rail

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

One of Rick Scott’s first acts as Florida’s governor was to reject Washington’s “gift” of $2.4 billion for a high-speed train running between Tampa and Orlando. Scott was panned by many for turning down the feds, but he stood firm because he said the plan could end up costing taxpayers here at least $1 billion more. “As you know, my background is in business, not politics.  But you don’t have to be an economics expert to understand that if you…

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Joe Henderson: Florida Republicans just can’t let go of Marco Rubio

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

When it comes to Marco Rubio, Florida Republican Party leaders are starting to sound like a jilted lover that can’t quite let it go. They ignore that Rubio was beaten soundly by Donald Trump in 65 of the state’s 66 counties in the Florida Primary, causing him to drop out of the presidential race. They ignore that he has repeatedly trashed his job as a senator in both word and deed. They ignore a recent Quinnipiac poll that showed 49…

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As hurricane season begins, asking tough questions of Citizens Insurance

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Recent headlines heralded the fact that Citizens Insurance, the state-run company for those who can’t get coverage anywhere else, has a lot of cash. With the official opening of hurricane season at hand, company officials say Citizens has enough money in reserve to pay claims if even a catastrophic Category 5 storm hits a major metro area. That’s good, right? Maybe. Or, just maybe, in the ever-popular game of “let the free market decide” many former Citizens clients have been…

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Joe Henderson: Troubles with TSA have turned flying into a Third World service

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

I was catching a flight a few years ago at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport during summer travel season. The American Airlines non-stop to Tampa was going to be overstuffed with crying babies, stressed parents, restless 6-year-olds and travelers trying to fill an overhead bin with more stuff than would fit into a Winnebago. I must have looked extra forlorn because the exhausted ticket agent surveyed the gate area and told me apologetically, “We have taken a premium service and turned…

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Joe Henderson: Can America bridge the Great Divide?

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Pundits and political pros have been talking about the Great Divide among Americans, and we all know it is there. It always has been. People in a country this large and diverse are going to have different ways of looking at things, but we usually come together at some point and work out the problems. At least, that’s how it used to be. I’m starting to wonder, though, if those days are gone for good. For Exhibit A, I bring…

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